The embodiments described herein relates generally to circuit boards, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for assembly of circuit boards that include at least one flexible circuit.
Known circuit boards are generally manufactured on a rigid substrate. Components coupled to the circuit boards are often electrically connected to the board via solder, wire wrapping, or detachable cables, all of which can be subjected to failure points and may be expensive to manufacture. Hybrid rigid flexible circuit boards, also known as rigid-flex circuits, are printed circuit boards (PCB) that include at least one flexible conductive circuit portion that couples two or more rigid circuit boards. Generally, such flexible conductive circuit portions extend from an edge of a rigid circuit portion of one circuit board to the edge of an adjacent circuit board and thus acts as a flexible extension of what normally would be fabricated on or within one of the layers of the rigid circuit portion. Alternatively, a circuit board may include only flexible circuits that may use stiffeners to form what would normally be a rigid circuit board. By using both flexible and semi-rigid or rigid circuit portions, a larger circuit board can be partitioned into smaller circuit boards that are connected together using flexible circuits. Such a design may be necessary to satisfy design requirements, and/or space limitations.
Some known methods of assembling a circuit board, that includes a flexible circuit, require bending the flexible circuit portions to enable the circuit boards to conform to a specific shape. More specifically, depending on the integrity of the board, and the amount of bending necessary, during some known assembly methods, the flexible circuit portions are bent to a desired shape and the circuit board portions are coupled to a jig to form the final needed shape. The boards are then secured in that shape, using fasteners for example, and the final shaped assembly is detached from the jig, which can then be re-used for the next circuit board assembly. After the circuit board is assembled into the desired shape, another jig or device can be used to align the board for installation into a housing.
The above known methods of assembling a circuit board can create inoperable assemblies if the flexible circuit portion is bent with a tight radius thus pinching or breaking the flexible circuit portion. Moreover, such methods of assembly may incorporate assembly steps that can induce undesirable stresses on the circuit board assembly. Further, such methods of assembly may increase the risk and likelihood of misalignment in final assembly.